How to Play Pool: Back Spin

How to Play Pool, with Gareth Potts, 4 times World Champion. In this edition Gareth explains how to play the screw back.

Video Transcription:

Gareth Potts: All right this is just to show you how to screw back, without having to hit the ball so hard. Because, a lot of people naturally think to screw back you have to hit the ball as hard as possible. You'll find people jumping the ball off the table, thinking that they need to throw hard at it. In fact, it's just the opposite, its actually about timing. As you can see the ball is straight and I'm going to screw back and land on the bank. Just tip to the right, draw back slowly, acceleration on the way through. Now, people actually think to screw back, like I said, you have to hit the ball as hard as possible, but in fact its just about timing the ball. So, timing is the acceleration on the way through to the cue ball. So, its not how fast to pull the cue back, its not actually how fast I do it in the cue, its about keeping the same tempo. As you pull the cue back you have to slowly accelerate through the ball. Something like this, the cue comes back slowly then, gradually accelerates in a straight line, which then gets the reaction on the cue ball that you need. So, cue up in a straight line, the cue comes back in a straight line and accelerate on the way through and keep it straight. Watch where my cue goes through, see how my cue finished?

Interviewer: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Gareth Potts: So, I've hit the white. So, I've pushed the cue through about a foot.

Interviewer: Yeah, right.

Gareth Potts: Which shows that my tip has stayed on the white.

Interviewer: Yeah.

Gareth Potts: If you played that shot you'd probably go like this . . .

Interviewer: Yeah.

Gareth Potts: The white would stop there.

Interviewer: Yeah. Yeah, definitely, definitely would do that as well.

Gareth Potts: Yeah.

Interviewer: I know it.

Gareth Potts: Once again, the tips at the bottom of the white, back in a straight line, through a straight line. So, also the thing you need to remember before playing a deep screw shoot is, obviously the separation of your tip. Sometimes your tip can tend to get a little bit shiny, so you need to make sure that you use some paper, the fibers are sticking up slightly on the tip, which makes it all the more better. You need to obviously, make sure that its chalked all the way around, so which I'm doing now, not just the top, the sides. Which obviously, allows then for you to get the reaction onto the cue ball.